GARDEN GROVE – The Crystal Cathedral, Orange County’s iconic megachurch built by Robert H. Schuller, is not for sale, Sheila Schuller Coleman, senior pastor of the cathedral and Schuller’s oldest daughter, announced during church services Sunday morning.

There are at least four known offers for the financially ailing megachurch – one from Newport Beach developer, Greenlaw Partners LLC., and another from Chapman University, both for $46 million – and $50 million offers from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and Norco-based My Father’s House Church International.

A court hearing to discuss the status of the offers is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday in bankruptcy court. The church is expected to ask the court for permission to submit a plan that will involve raising $50 million in the next 120 days.

Coleman, who is a non-voting member of the board, said during Sunday’s services that the board feels an overwhelming need to preserve the 40-acre campus and its core buildings.

“The board feels its great responsibility toward all of our vendors and other creditors, to pay them 100 percent of what is owed as soon as possible,” Coleman said, “but also a responsibility to the local members and viewers of our nationally and internationally televised ‘Hour of Power’ to retain the ministry’s Orange County headquarters intact.”

Sunday’s announcement, which was referred to by Coleman as a “faith-based decision,” was jointly made by Coleman and Walt Kallestad, senior pastor of the Church of Joy in Glendale, Ariz., who recently joined the board.

Last week, Crystal Cathedral Ministries announced a shakeup of its international board, which included the reinstatement of Robert H. Schuller as a voting board member. Schuller was voted off the board last month by members Gwyn Myers and Rick Mysse, who are no longer on the board.

Coleman said the English, Spanish and Arabic ministries at the Crystal Cathedral will come together to “seek God’s blessing of a $50 million dollar miracle.”

That miracle, the senior pastor said, could be as simple as collecting $500 from 100,000 members and “Hour of Power” viewers worldwide.

Robert H. Schuller, who started this ministry 55 years ago on the roof of the Orange drive-in’s snack shack, released a statement Sunday expressing his appreciation for several interested buyers who contacted him personally before submitting their offers.

“I have been deeply moved by their care even though the campus is not mine to sell – it belongs to the church and the ministries.”

Schuller called the board’s move “completely unexpected” and takes him back to his Possibility Thinker’s creed that states: “When faced with a mountain, I will not quit.”

“Yes, the creditors committee will deal with the buyers,” Schuller said. “But I will face my mountain … It’s time to focus on rescue, not abandonment.”

Kallested said he is thrilled with the board’s decision “to set this example stepping forward in faith.”

“I’m humbled and honored to stand with fellow believers who are willing to proclaim Jesus Christ as the head of this church,” he said. “Get ready to witness a miracle. The best days for this ministry are ahead.”

Jim McDonald, a longtime church member who is coordinating a petition drive to “take the church back,” said, as of Saturday, the effort has close to 800 signed petitions supporting a board without a Schuller family member.

McDonald challenged the board’s newly announced plan.

“My question is really simple,” he said. “If they have not been able to raise $50 million in the last 10 months they have been in bankruptcy, how are they going to do it in the next (four) months?”

McDonald said the bankruptcy court and creditors should take a good look at the Crystal Cathedral Ministries’ mailing list and determine if the church is in a position to raise that kind of money within 120 days.

McDonald said the congregation wants the board to be a “truly independent” one without any Schullers voting or exercising their influence on the decisions being made.

“The Schullers must come to grip with the fact that appointing their family and friends is no longer acceptable,” he said.

Deepa Bharath covers religion for The Orange County Register and the Southern California Newspaper Group. Her work is focused on how religion, race and ethnicity shape our understanding of what it is to be American and how religion in particular helps influence public policies, laws and a region's culture. Deepa also writes about race, cultures and social justice issues. She has covered a number of other beats ranging from city government to breaking news for the Register since May 2006. She has received fellowships from the International Women's Media Foundation and the International Center for Journalists to report stories about reconciliation, counter-extremism and peace-building efforts around the world. When she is not working, she loves listening to Indian classical music and traveling with her husband and son.

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